Hydrant guard



T. RUGGIO HYDRANT GUARD May 24, 1938.

Filed July 29, 1937 FEB.

Patented May 24, 1938 UNITED STATES it? FFEQE Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in street water hydrants, and more particularly to a guard against unauthorized use thereof.

The object of this invention is to provide a new 5 and improved hydrant guard which will prevent the use of the hydrant by all except those provided with a special wrench or tool.

Another object relates to the method of securing the guard to the hydrant or aifixing it thereto so that the guard will not cause or allow the accumulation of water, ice, snow, dirt, etc, between the guard and the external end of the valve stem or wrench nut of the hydrant, and thus will not cause its use to become impaired at any time or season of the year.

Another object relates to the construction of the guard and the means for securing it to the hydrant so that it can be readily adapted to the conventional hydrant. Heretofore guards of a somewhat similar type have been used but in order to secure them in proper position on the hydrant it has been necessary to cause holes to be drilled through the hydrant top in order to bolt the guard thereto. This operation is expensive and often entails a good deal of breakage. Further, in order to attach a guard of that type to the hydrant it becomes necessary to remove the hydrant top and entails a laborious and difficult operation. I am also familiar with other types of hydrant guards which are cast as a unit with the hydrant top. This latter type of guard does not allow sufficient drainage of ice or snow accumulation and serves as a collector of dirt, even though side openings are left in the guard, and breakage of the guard in such castings requires replacement of the entire hydrant top. The use of my guard eliminates all necessity for drilling of the hydrant top or casting it therewith, and provides for a guard which can be readily engaged to or disengaged from the hydrant whenever desired or whenever it becomes necessary to do so, all of which can be performed by one person in a minimum amount of time and with great ease. Other objects relate to the economy and novel construction and arrangement of the parts which will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification and drawing, where- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a conventional street water hydrant with the improved guard secured thereto.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the exposed portion of the conventional street water hydrant showing my improved guard mounted thereon.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the upper end of a conventional street water hydrant with my guard mounted in place, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of my improved hydrant guard.

Referring to the drawing, the conventional street water hydrant which I have shown for purposes of illustrating my invention and which is a type which is in great commercial use, consists of the stand pipe 56 terminating at its upper end in the flange I l. esting thereon by means of the flange i2 is the hydrant top or bonnet, it, the upper portion of which is substantially hemispherical in contour. These two sections of the exterior of the hydrant are held together by means of the bolts I extending through the flanges and locked by the nuts l5. Extending from the bonnet may be a pair of nozzles 56 and H. The bonnet may have formed integrally therewith a stuffing box 18 which extends inwardly therefrom, the purpose of which is conventional, and at the juncture of the stuffing box and the bonnet the annular shoulder E9 is formed. A stuffing box element or cap 20 is provided with an annular groove 2! which seats over the shoulder I9, the cap being formed with the wrench nut portion 22. A cap screw 23 extends through the wrench nut and stufling box cap and into the upper end of the valve stem assembly or stem nut 2 3, the said stem nut being seated in the axially aligned recess 25 in the stuffing box cap. It will described, or to a similar type of hydrant, consists of the cap 3B, which is held above the stumng box cap 36, the wrench nut 22, and the bonnet 13, by means of the legs 34. The cap 30 may consist of an annular disk 32, and may in addition he formed with the depending flange 33. may be formed of the disk and flange portion in one piece so that it may form a complete covering for the stufling box cap and the wrench nut 22, or it may merely consist of the disk 32. The aperture 3| may be formed centrally of the disk portion 32 so that a tool such as a key or socket wrench may be inserted through it to operate the wrench nut, but not otherwise. In this manner only those being possessed of or provided with a The cap I proper key or tool will be able to operate the hydrant. Also by reason of the fact that the cap is positioned above the bonnet and the wrench nut and is held in spaced relation to them by means of a number of spaced-apart legs, such as the three legs 34 shown in the drawing, any moisture, rain, snow, dirt, etc, which may enter through the opening 3| will drop out through the bottom of the cap 30 which remains open and spaced apart from the hydrant bonnet and its operating parts. The upper portions of the legs 34 are formed of the substantially vertically extending parts 35 which are joined to the cap either by welding or being cast integrally there-- with. The portions 34 of the legs are, as shown in the drawing, curved to conform to the contour of the hydrant top which in the illustration shown is arcuate for about one-half its height so as to provide a close fit to the hydrant top and firmly hold the guarding cap in position.

The lower portion of the legs may terminate in the foot portions 36 which have openings 38 in them so that they can be seated on the flange 12 of the bonnet and over the bolts hi and locked in place thereon by the nuts i5. If desired, the foot of the leg may be formed of laterally extending portions as at El so that two bolts may be spanned thereby. If desired, any number of these foot portions may be formed to span two bolts or they may all be formed so as to engage only a single bolt. In the drawing I have shown one of the legs having a foot portion spanning two bolts, as may become necessary when only three supporting legs are desired, but where it becomes necessary .to adapt it to a flange secured by a number of bolts not divisible equally by the number of legs, as for example, in this instance there are eight bolts passing through the flange of the hydrant. It will therefore be seen that I do not wish to restrict myself to the number of supporting legs for my guard, or to the exact detail of the foot portions. However, it will be seen that by means of these foot portions the legs of the guard may be readily secured to the hydrant top or bonnet by means of the conventional bolts used in holding the hydrant parts together, and without disturbing the normal functions thereof, either when engaging the guard to the hydrant or in disengaging it therefrom.

Although I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will readily be seen by those skilled in the art that various changes in the details and structure may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention and I therefore do .not wish .to be restricted thereto except as limited by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a street water hydrant comprising a lower standpipe portion ha ing an external peripheral flange at its upper edge and a top portion having an external peripheral flange at its lower edge, sai-d flanges being secured together by means of bolts and a valve stem actuating head extending externally of said top portion, of a guard for said actuating head, said guard comprising an annular cap held over said actuating head in spaced relation thereto and in spaced relation to said top portion by means of supporting legs, said supporting legs having foot portions adapted to rest on the flange of said top portion and be held thereagainst by means of said bolts.

2. The combination with a street water hydrant comprising a flanged standpipe portion and a flanged bonnet portion, said portions being secured to each other by bolts extending through said flanges, said bonnet having a valve stem actuating head extending from its exterior, of a guard for said actuating head, said guard comprising an annular cap covering said actuating head held in spaced relation thereto and to said bonnet by means of a plurality of supporting legs, said legs lying on said bonnet and its flange and being demountably secured thereto by means of said bolts.

3. The combination with a street water hydrant comprising a flanged standpipe portion and a flanged bonnet portion, said portions being secured to each other by bolts extending through said flanges, said bonnet having a valve stem actuating head extending from its exterior, of a guard for said actuating head, said guard comprising a cap having an aperture therein adapted .to admit a tool whereby said valve'stem head may be actuated, and a plurality of legs lying on said bonnet having foot portions engaged by said bolts and head portions secured to said cap to hold it in spaced relation to said head and to said bonnet.

i. The combination with a street water hydrant having a flanged standpipe portion and a flanged bonnet portion secured together by a plurality of bolts passing through said flanged portions, said bonnet having a valve operating stem wrench nut on the exterior thereof, of a guard adapted to protect said nut and to permit selective operation thereof, said guard comprising a disc having an aperture therein axially aligned with said nut and adapted to admit an operating tool thereto, and being held in spaced relation to said nut and said bonnet by means of depending leg portions bolted to said flanges by the bolts thereof.

5. The combination with a street water hydrant comprising a flanged standpipe portion and a flanged bonnet portion, said portions being secured together by means of a plurality of bolts extending through said flanges, said bonnet having a valve operating stem wrench nut extending from the .top thereof, of a guard adapted to protect said nut and permit selective operation thereof, said guard comprising a cap having an aperture therein axially aligned with said nut adapted to permit passage of an operating tool therethrough, and supporting members for said 

